Drugs targeting
heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) have been extensively explored for their anticancer potential in advanced clinical trials. Nanoformulations have been an important
drug delivery platform for the anticancer molecules like Hsp90 inhibitors. It has been reported that
bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanoparticles (NPs) serve as carriers for anticancer drugs, which have been extensively explored for their therapeutic efficacy against
cancers.
Luminespib (also known as NVP-
AUY922) is a new generation Hsp90 inhibitor that was introduced recently. It is one of the most studied Hsp90 inhibitors for a variety of
cancers in Phase I and II clinical trials and is similar to its predecessors such as the
ansamycin class of molecules. To our knowledge, nanoformulations for
luminespib remain unexplored for their anticancer potential. In the present study, we developed aqueous dispensable BSA NPs for controlled delivery of
luminespib. The
luminespib-loaded BSA NPs were characterized by SEM, TEM, FTIR, XPS, UV-visible spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. The results suggest that
luminespib interacts by non-covalent reversible interactions with BSA to form
drug-loaded BSA NPs (DNPs). Our in vitro evaluations suggest that DNP-based aqueous nanoformulations can be used in both pancreatic (MIA PaCa-2) and breast (MCF-7)
cancer therapy.